Chapter 10

The moon hung high in the sky, bathing the herb garden in cool, clear moonlight. Fireflies flickered among the flowers, their lights appearing and disappearing intermittently. The scent of herbs wafted through the air, drawn by an unseen force towards the small hut, drifting inside through an open window.

The garden was protected by numerous formations, but these posed no challenge to the one who had set them up. Xu Manman approached the hut silently, without alerting the person inside.

Inside, a spirit-gathering formation was in place, drawing in the medicinal fragrance along with spiritual energy from outside, forming a tangible mist of spiritual energy. In the center of the formation sat a person cross-legged, back straight like a pine tree, with skin as cold as frost, long black hair like a waterfall, and a jade-like appearance shrouded in the spiritual mist, softening the usual sharpness and adding a touch of ethereal grace.

Xu Manman’s peeping did not alert Immortal Lang Yin, who was in a state of deep meditation. She pondered that perhaps Immortal Langyin had been seriously injured by the Burning Heaven division and needed the spiritual energy from the herb garden to heal.

Reflecting on the three hundred years she had known Immortal Lang Yin, Xu Manman realized she had never seen him at night. Unable to resist, she stole a few more glances. If there were gods in this world, they would certainly look like Immortal Lang Yin, whose appearance was so divine it made one’s heart ache and feel unworthy of approach.

Xu Manman contemplated her relationship with Immortal Lang Yin.

They were familiar, yet not close.

Immortal Lang Yin was temperamental, cold and hot in turns, and unpredictable in his moods.

Despite having eight hundred tricks up her sleeve, she could never fathom what he was thinking. However, despite his detachment from worldly matters, he had given her a beautifully crafted crown on the day she formed her Golden Core and left the Siyi Sect, indicating that he did care for her in some way. Yet, what kind of sentiment this was, she could not discern.

Her master had once said that Immortal Lang Yin’s true form was that of a thousand-petaled flower, born from a blend of chaotic and demonic energies, unique in the world.

He was naturally gifted and rarely met his match, but he had one flaw: he lacked a heart and could not experience emotions, joy, or sorrow, standing apart from the mundane world and the three realms.

When she heard this, she felt a little sympathetic to Immortal Lang Yin, but after being ruthlessly whipped by him for three months, she turned to sympathize with herself .

What kind of flaw are no seven emotions and six desires?  It wasn’t his misfortune, but rather the misfortune of those around him!

(T/N: The term “seven emotions” comes from The Book of Rites, referring to happiness, anger, sadness, fear, love, hatred, and desire. The term “six desires” first appeared in Master Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals, referring to human desire for life, desire against death, and the desires of human organs such as ears, eyes, mouth, and nose for sound, color, taste, and aroma.)

Xu Manman curled her lips and turned away from the window.

While Immortal Lang Yin was meditating, she could solve her first mystery. She quietly approached the center of the herb garden, standing where Immortal Lang Yin had stood during the day, and frowned as she gazed at the shallow mud pond in front of her.

She had some suspicions today.

Did Immortal Lang Yin bury her corpse in this mud pond to grow flowers?

Xu Manman raised her right hand, holding a yellow talisman inscribed with red symbols. Activated by spiritual energy, the talisman seemed to come alive, wriggling free from her fingers and floating in the air. Xu Manman closed her eyes, and simultaneously, the characters on the talisman began to move like tadpoles, transforming into the shape of an eye. With a point of her finger, the talisman dove into the mud pond.

With her eyes half-closed, Xu Manman could see the scene beneath the mud pond in the darkness.

The talisman wriggled through the mud like a worm, searching for clues. After about a quarter of an hour, it found nothing.

Xu Manman frowned slightly. Could she have been wrong, and there was nothing under the mud pond?

No, that couldn’t be right!

She had been using the same amount of spiritual energy to drive the talisman, but its speed varied, indicating that some parts of the mud had been disturbed, making the soil looser and easier for the talisman to move through.

This meant that something had indeed been buried here but had been dug up again.

Xu Manman furrowed her brows deeply. Judging by the talisman’s speed, the disturbed area wasn’t large enough to bury a person…unless it was buried vertically.

This thought sent a chill down her spine.

Could Immortal Lang Yin have some strange hobby?

She hesitated to dig up the mud pond for fear of being discovered by Immortal Lang Yin, so she used the talisman instead, inscribing it with a clairvoyance spell to see the scene beneath the mud pond. Though her skills in formations weren’t as good as Ming Xiao Fazun’s, she was adept at improvising.

Xu Manman curled her fingers to retrieve and destroy the talisman when she suddenly heard a faint noise from inside the hut.

Startled, she bolted.

But the door of the hut didn’t open, and Immortal Lang Yin didn’t come out. Xu Manman hid and observed for a while, then realized something was wrong.

The medicinal fragrance and spiritual energy were leaking from the window, a sign that the spirit-gathering formation had failed. If Immortal Lang Yin had voluntarily deactivated the formation, he must have noticed the commotion outside. How could he not come out?

If Immortal Lang Yin didn’t deactivate the formation, then it must have failed for some reason…

Immortal Lang Yin might be in danger!

Without further thought, Xu Manman rushed back to the hut.

She climbed in through the window and saw Immortal Lang Yin lying weakly on the ground, with a pool of dark blood in front of him. His breath was erratic, sometimes strong, sometimes weak.

The spirit-gathering formation had been disrupted by the blood, causing the spiritual energy to dissipate.

Xu Manman hurried to Immortal Lang Yin’s side, helping him sit up and checking his pulse.

“The heart is burning, meridians in disarray,” Xu Manman frowned.

“But it doesn’t seem like an internal injury. Could it be a blood curse?”

The blood curses of the Blood Sect were extremely strange, and she hadn’t encountered them much, so she didn’t fully understand them.

Examining Immortal Lang Yin’s expression, she saw his pale face, vividly red lips, and body alternating between hot and cold, which resembled the signs of qi deviation.

Xu Manman’s expression grew serious. Qi deviation was extremely dangerous and could be fatal at any moment. The higher the cultivation, the more dangerous it was. She couldn’t worry about exposing her identity now; she couldn’t just watch Immortal Lang Yin die.

Xu Manman sat behind Immortal Lang Yin, placing her palms on his back and channeling her spiritual energy into his body, guiding his chaotic blood flow back to its proper channels. Immortal Lang Yin was very familiar with her spiritual energy and didn’t resist, allowing her energy to flow freely within him.

Immortal Lang Yin was more like her master than Reverend Nian Yi. Almost all of her cultivation skills came from the personal instruction of Immortal Lang Yin. Back in the day, she followed her master in the herb garden, cultivating and planting flowers. Immortal Lang Yin would appear for a few days each month, guiding her cultivation hands-on.

Xu Manman was naturally intelligent, but strangely, her progress in cultivation was astonishingly slow, just like her name suggested.

(T/N: 慢慢 (mànmàn) can be translated as slowly or gradually.. hence, she said that her progress in cultivation is just like her name.)

Immortal Lang Yin was not one for many words. Each time, he would quietly watch Xu Manman and ask pointed, hurtful questions.

“Am I mute, or are you deaf? Why don’t you listen to what I say?”

“If it’s neither, then your brain must be defective.”

“Is there no herb in this entire garden full of spiritual flowers and herbs that can cure your stupidity?”

“Why can you learn instantly from Nian Yi, but you never understand what I teach? Do you look down on me because I’m not human?”

“Do you think you are too stupid, and there is no point in practicing to obtain enlightenment?”

“I somewhat understand you now. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to live that long either.”

“Why are you upset? I’m not scolding you, just stating the truth.”

Xu Manman could hardly believe that someone so beautiful could say such poisonous words. She dared not show any dissatisfaction or sadness, always smiling outwardly while her heart shattered. She feared and deeply respected Immortal Lang Yin. After all, he had painstakingly taught her for many years, and in her heart, he held a place second only to her master.

So she had to do everything in her power to save Immortal Lang Yin.

However, the spiritual energy within Immortal Lang Yin was not as cooperative as Xu Manman had hoped.

Stirred by some unknown force, it surged wildly in his heart, threatening to destroy his meridians and end his life if not controlled.

“Indeed, he has succumbed to qi deviation…” Xu Manman frowned.

“I thought Immortal Lang Yin had no heart. Can someone without a heart have inner demons?”

She withdrew her hand, pulling back her spiritual energy.

Without her support, Immortal Lang Yin collapsed backward, leaning against her. His immense cultivation and spiritual energy, like a vast ocean, had become as fierce as a tsunami due to the qi deviation. With her current cultivation diminished to only thirty percent, trying to tame his raging energy was like a clay ox entering the sea and a mantis trying to stop a carriage—utterly futile.

Xu Manman felt Immortal Lang Yin’s burning forehead, and a thought struck her.

She lifted his long hair from the side of his neck, revealing his slender, fair neck. Behind his ear, a petal-shaped mark had turned a deep purple-black.

Almost no one knew that this was where Immortal Lang Yin’s primordial spirit resided. Like the hibiscus, which changes color three times a day, this petal also changed color accordingly. It was light pink in the morning, deepened at noon, and became vividly red by evening. But now, it was purple-black.

Xu Manman had a premonition that once the petal turned completely purple-black, Immortal Lang Yin would face grave danger. She gazed at him, trapped in a nightmare of inner demons, his body burning with fever, and sighed softly, “Immortal Lang Yin, forgive me.”

With a wave of her right hand, a Dream-Entering Talisman appeared out of thin air, inscribed with a dream-entering formation in special cinnabar.

Activated, the talisman burst into flames, scattering countless sparkling ashes like a galaxy around them, finally merging into Immortal Lang Yin’s forehead.

Xu Manman decided to enter Immortal Lang Yin’s nightmare with her primordial spirit to dispel his inner demons. This method was extremely risky; if she died in his nightmare, her primordial spirit would also perish. But given the circumstances, this was the only option.

Xu Manman found herself in a scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, surrounded by wails of agony. A familiar figure stood before her, his long robe stained dark red with blood. Holding the Jushuang Sword, he mercilessly harvested lives, turning those killed by the sword into dried corpses and skeletons.

She instantly recognized the place as the Burning Heaven division, where she had met her end.

Countless ghostly figures lunged at Immortal Lang Yin, only to have their heads chopped off amid screams. The surviving ghosts, terrified, tried to flee. But vines sprang from the ground, binding those who attempted to escape. Immortal Lang Yin dragged them one by one before him, asking with a blank expression, “Where is Manman?”

The ghosts struggled, screamed, and trembled, “I-I don’t know…”

The vines sprouted countless thorns, piercing the ghosts and draining their blood and flesh, leaving only gray-black skins.

“Where is Manman?”

“Where is Manman?”

He asked repeatedly, killing one ghost after another, like a puppet devoid of emotion.

Xu Manman felt a chill throughout her body, witnessing such a side of Immortal Lang Yin for the first time. She recalled his words from earlier in the day.

“Plants and trees have no feelings. They feed on corpses and drink blood, accepting all life sacrifices, eventually blooming into monstrous flowers.”

Stiff with fear, Xu Manman watched the scene unfold. A hoarse voice suddenly laughed eerily, “She’s dead. I cut her in two!”

Immortal Master Langyin abruptly halted, slowly raising his head to look at the ghost bound by vines.

It was the leader of the Burning Heaven division, the evil cultivator Mo Duo, also known as the Burning Heaven Envoy.

Immortal Lang Yin’s eyes turned blood-red at these words. He raised his left hand, and with a grasp, the vines tightened, almost crushing.

“You’re lying, you’re lying!” Immortal Lang Yin’s voice trembled.

“I’m still alive. How could she be dead? She can’t be dead!”

“Hehehe…”

Mo Duo’s face was twisted and bloodied; he laughed maniacally, an eerie, excited light in his eyes.

“Immortal Lang Yin, why not join my Blood Sect? Our Blood Lord possesses the secret of eternal life and the art of resurrection. Reviving Lian Yue Daozun would be a simple task.”

Upon hearing those words, it seemed Immortal Lang Yin was swayed.

He took a step forward, his bloodless lips moved slightly, and he asked softly, “Is this true?”

Xu Manman, seeing this, dared not delay any longer and immediately interrupted, “He’s lying to you!”

She realized that the one before them was likely not the real Mo Duo but a manifestation of Immortal Lang Yin’s inner demon. This demon represented his deepest fears and desires. If he agreed to the demon’s offer, he would become its slave.

She had to stop him!

“Immortal Lang Yin, look back at me, Manman is here!”She rushed forward.

Immortal Lang Yin turned his head, looking at her coldly.

Xu Manman grabbed his wrist earnestly and said, “Immortal Lang Yin, this place is dangerous. Please come with me!”

But Immortal Lang Yin did not move. His eyes, red as blood yet cold as ice, stared at her.

“You are not Manman. Who are you?”

Xu Manman was stunned. She instinctively raised her hand to touch her face—this was not her face!

Something was wrong!

After her death, her primordial spirit inhabited an unfamiliar body. Now, entering Immortal Lang Yin’s nightmare with her primordial spirit, it should have shown her original appearance. But why was it someone else’s face?

Xu Manman panicked, an unknown fear enveloping her. A terrifying thought flashed through her mind—could it be that it wasn’t her primordial spirit that took over this body, but this body that took over her primordial spirit?

Before she could figure it out, Immortal Lang Yin had already grabbed her by the throat.

“I think I remember who you are…” His fingers dug into her soft, slender neck, cutting off her blood flow.

At that moment, everything around them fell into darkness, and joyful laughter echoed nearby.

Xu Manman’s face turned red as she struggled to look to the side.

Hearing her own voice from another’s perspective felt both familiar and strange.

She thought dazedly—so this is what her laughter sounded like.

On the main seat in the Xianyun Hall sat a familiar figure, clad in a resplendent golden cloud-patterned robe and the dazzling Lian Yue crown.

It was her usual attire, later placed in the cold jade coffin.

For the first time, she saw her own face from someone else’s viewpoint, though she couldn’t see it clearly, as if a thick fog obscured her features. Even so, she could sense the joy in that laughter.

The “Xu Manman” on the seat was enjoying herself immensely, flanked by Ao Xiu, the Sea Emperor, and Li Que, the Young Master, serving her.

She lay against Ao Xiu’s chest, her long legs draped over Li Que’s lap.

The scene was utterly shameless and scandalous!

Xu Manman’s face was flushed, not just from being choked but also from shame and anger.

She wasn’t like that!

Immortal Lang Yin, let go of me, I have something to say!

She tried to pry Immortal Lang Yin’s hand off, but couldn’t break free. His attention wasn’t on her, so he didn’t exert full force. His gaze was fixed on the “Xu Manman” enjoying herself.

Just as the situation was about to worsen, the Jushuang Sword’s energy, carried a powerful force and struck Li Que, splitting him in half, turning him into a shadow, then swung at Ao Xiu’s head, making him disappear as well.

Xu Manman sighed in relief… That was close. She didn’t want to see any more, or she’d never be able to face Ao Xiu and Li Que again—if there was an “again.”

On the seat, only a woman with black hair touching the ground and a blurred face remained.

Immortal Lang Yin raised his head to look at her, softly calling, “Manman…”

He casually flung Xu Manman aside and walked up the steps toward the motionless “Xu Manman” on the seat, lost in a trance.

Xu Manman clutched her neck, gasping for air and emitting a hoarse rasp.

She had suffered too much, choked several times in one day.

Compared to “Xu Yanyue’s” fate, it seemed Immortal Lang Yin was indeed much kinder to Xu Manman.

She looked at Immortal Lang Yin’s back with complex emotions.

He walked up to the “Xu Manman,” who suddenly reached out to him and said softly, “Immortal Lang Yin, I am already dead.”

Immortal Lang Yin’s figure wavered as he rasped, “Impossible, you must still be alive. I can feel it. Besides, as long as I live, you cannot die.”

“You were deceived by Nian Yi. You understand that now, don’t you?”

the “Xu Manman” said in a bewitching tone, “Come stay with me, won’t you?”

Immortal Lang Yin seemed to lose his senses. Just as he was about to nod, a figure leaped at him from behind, pushing him to the ground.

“Immortal Lang Yin, that’s your inner demon! She’s lying to you!”

Xu Manman yelled frantically, slapping Immortal Lang Yin across the face.

“Wake up!”

Immortal Lang Yin, struck by the slap, looked stunned.

Xu Manman, realizing what she had done, glanced at her hand in disbelief.

Immortal Lang Yin also looked disbelieving, but he seemed to regain some clarity.

The red in his eyes gradually faded.

The “Xu Manman” standing behind them suddenly turned into a black shadow and lunged at Immortal Lang Yin.

Xu Manman was knocked aside by the shadow, feeling as if she had fallen into an icy abyss, with a piercing pain in her heart.

Suddenly, her vision brightened. She found herself back in the hut, having been expelled from the nightmare by the black shadow.

Is this inner demon truly so powerful?

She didn’t have time to recover from the intense pain in her primordial spirit. Hastily, she reached out to check on Immortal Lang Yin.

He collapsed into her arms, and as soon as her hand touched his face, he opened his eyes.

Xu Manman’s breath caught, sensing something was wrong. Without thinking, she slapped him again, sending him flying.

Immortal Lang Yin: “…”

Xu Manman quickly pulled out some pre-prepared talismans, sending streaks of fire towards him. Immortal Master Langyin coldly dispersed the talismans with a wave of his sleeve.

“You slapped me twice,” he said with a cold smile, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Who are you, really?” Xu Manman felt her heart sink.

She was far too weak now, unable to handle even a single finger from the opponent.

“Who are you? You claim to be Xu Manman?”

Immortal Lang Yin leisurely approached her, treating her as if she were trapped.

This person, though identical in appearance to Immortal Master Lang Yin, had a completely different demeanor. Lang Yin’s coldness was indifferent and clear, as if nothing mattered to him. This one’s gaze was vicious and icy, with a cruel, mocking smile, like that of a demon.

“You believe anything I say? Well, I’m your mother!” Xu Manman retorted with a sarcastic laugh.

“Even at death’s door, you still talk back.”

Immortal Lang Yin’s face darkened.

“I’ll talk back even harder if I’m dead. Want to test it?”

Enraged by her defiant attitude, Immortal Lang Yin flashed forward, grabbing her by the throat.

But as soon as he touched the skin of her neck, a searing pain caused him to grunt, and his body was momentarily paralyzed.

In that split second, Xu Manman seized the opportunity, filling the air with talismans that formed a golden bell formation, pressing down on Immortal Lang Yin.

“Do you think a little golden bell formation can trap me?” he sneered.

The golden bell formation could suppress all evil, rendering them immobile, but its power depended on the caster’s strength.

With Xu Manman’s current cultivation, it could hold for only five breaths.

Five breaths were hardly enough to flee far, but surprisingly, Xu Manman didn’t run.

As Immortal Lang Yin was immobilized, she lunged forward, knocking him to the ground and straddling his waist.

“You!” Immortal Master Langyin’s eyes widened.

Xu Manman brushed aside his long, black hair and kissed the petal mark on his neck.

The petal had turned a demonic purple.

Immortal Lang Yin’s body went rigid.

In the next moment, Xu Manman bit down hard.

His blood, infused with immense spiritual energy, surged into her mouth.

Xu Manman sucked his blood, allowing his wild spiritual energy to batter her primordial spirit.

The pain blanked her mind, her body feeling like a kite in a storm, about to be torn apart.

She struggled to endure, but ultimately couldn’t withstand the torment. Her eyes closed, and she collapsed on top of Immortal Lang Yin, completely unconscious.